Pocket Casts just received an update to version 4.1, bringing a new "dark" theme and several notable playback improvements. Even though it just recently made the major jump to version 4 with a complete redesign, the updates don't stop there. Version 4.1 has a new dark theme, which should be easier on the eyes when viewing in dim environments and generally just please the crowd that likes a darker UI. On the playback side, v4.1 adds global playback speed options, set "start from" times for episodes, larger buttons and various other little fixes.

If you haven't taken a look yet, the new and redesigned Pocket Casts 4 is certainly worth consideration. You can grab a download from the Play Store at the link above, and stick around after the break for a quick side-by-side comparison of the light and dark UI.

I'll stick with BeyondPod. The ability to automatically turn on wifi while downloading podcasts and the ability to customize how many episodes I keep per podcast are features that I can't live without.

The biggest enhancement in this most recent version of Pocket Casts, in my opinion, was the ability to customize how many episodes are kept for each podcast feed. It was a pretty big oversight for Android Central not to mention it. I have both BeyondPod and Pocket Casts, and I can't think of one feature that BeyondPod has that Pocket Casts doesn't after this update.

Indeed you can now set how many episodes to keep on a podcast level and not just a global level but it does miss the option to turn on wifi to download but that kind of seems silly to me though it will auto download if you are on wifi only

Yes, I popped open BeyondPod and there are still some niche customization options that are unique to it. For instance it can clean up old podcasts by either the number of podcasts to save or the age of the episode.

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